With more than one million page views and more than 4,000 items, this blog provides news and commentary on public policy, business and economic issues related to the $3 billion California stem cell agency, officially known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine(CIRM). David Jensen, a retired California newsman, has published this blog since January 2005. His email address is djensen@californiastemcellreport.com.

Friday, March 25, 2011

California Gov. Jerry Brown and three other top state officials are balking at making nominations as early as next month for the new chair of the $3 billion California stem cell agency.

In a letter to the CIRM board, Brown, Controller John Chiang, Treasurer Bill Lockyer and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said they wanted to wait until possibly May 23.

The CIRM governing board on March 14 asked that nominations be made by April 11. The board had approved a timetable that would have made it possible for the board to fill the slot by its meeting early in May.

CIRM Chairman Robert Klein was re-elected in December to a six-month term but has made it clear that he would prefer to leave earlier.

Here is the entire text of the letter from Brown and the others to the CIRM board:

"Thank you for your letter of March 14 regarding the nomination process and
proposed April 11 deadline for nominations for the next chair of the Independent Citizens
Oversight Committee. As your letter makes clear, this position requires a high-caliber
leader who possesses a unique executive skill set and commitment to CIRM’s important
mission. Given that, we, the constitutional officers responsible for nominating candidates,
find that a meaningful, successful search and recruitment for this role would be difficult to
complete by your requested deadline. Therefore, we propose that the deadline for
nominations be extended to no later than May 23rd, which would provide our respective
offices with up to 60 days, a more reasonable period in which to complete this important
responsibility."

About Me

The California Stem Cell Report is the only nongovernmental website devoted solely to the $3 billion California stem cell agency. The report is published by David Jensen, who worked for 22 years for The Sacramento Bee in a variety of editing positions, including executive business editor and special projects editor. He was the primary editor on the 1992 Pulitzer Prize-winning series, "The Monkey Wars" by Deborah Blum, which dealt with opposition to research on primates. Jensen served as a press aide in the 1974 campaign and first administration of Gov. Jerry Brown. (Time served: two years and one week.) He writes from his sailboat on the west coast of Mexico with occasional visits to land. Jensen began writing about the stem cell agency in 2005, noting that it is an unprecedented effort that uniquely combines big science, big business, big academia, big politics, religion, ethics and morality as well as life and death. The California Stem Cell Report has been identified as one of the best stem cell sites on the Internet. Its readership includes the media (both mainstream and science), a wide range of academic/research institutions globally, the NIH and California policy makers.